EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Using music apps in K1 and K2

Ms. Kellerman used three different music apps with the K1 and K2 students. The apps are geared to allow the kids to learn beats, patterns, sounds of various instruments, and much more. One of the apps, Loopimal, actually involves block coding!

TEACHERS Susan K. Mr. Fletch Lori L.

Grade 6 Science Project: The Human Impact on Climate Change

Students participated in a primary research project across the entire 6th grade to discover how much waste is generated during Middle School lunch over two weeks. Researchers circulated the lunchroom in shifts collecting data about the amount and types of used plastics, how many students ordered which lunches, and how much edible food is discharged each day. After aggregating the data, students used what they know about climate change to engage in a design thinking sprint to design a solution to a problem revealed by the data. Middle school math teachers took the data and used it as an authentic way to help students visualize volume and scale & proportion.

TEACHERS Kim B. David H.

STUDENTS Antonio A. Valentina W. Luis E. Theo M. Beyza O. Elena C Suntje S.

Making Posters Come Alive! FOOD WEBS, ECOLOGY UNIT

Students in 6th grade Science had the opportunity to app smash and show off their creativity when it came to showing their understanding in the Ecology Unit. After researching biomes, students chose a biome and created a food web from that area. They also included cycles of matter most prominent to their food web. Then the fun began! Students used Google Drawings to create a background “poster” that they then used in Thinglink. Thinglink is an online platform allowing students the ability to make their posters interactive. Important text, audio, and images “pop up” as the viewer clicks on each tag. Check it out!

TEACHERS Kim B. Lori L.

Social Media Addiction

Middle School students learned about the dangers of online digital media and social media addiction and how to structure their lives to avoid harm and maximize potential.

As an integrated part of the Middle School advisory program, David Hotler, our MS/US Technology Integration Specialist, presented to the MS students after students had reflected on their core values and created a vision board for their future. David’s presentations focused first on the dangers of social media obsession and addiction and then on how daily habits and relationships slowly shape who we become. Students were challenged to reflect on their actions and choices and develop action plans for how they might change their daily habits and routines to ensure they become the person they have set out to be. Teachers Alaina David H. Lori L.

Google Certification

The mission of the EdTechTeam is to embrace the power of technology to help empower our students to personalize learning pathways, collaborate, communicate and innovate within and beyond the walls of ASM. Over the last several years, ASM has been utilizing Google Apps for Education (GAFE) as our main platform for teaching and learning. While most teachers are proficient in these tools, we wanted to support those teachers looking to “up their tech game” with these tools. We began this process in the 2019-2020 school year by offering a Google Level 1 Certification cohort. The cohort met monthly to learn more about all of the tools in the GAFE repertoire and at the end of the year, all participating teachers passed the Google Certified Educator exam. This year we extended our offering to not only include a Google Level 1 Certification cohort but a Level 2 cohort as well and have already had a huge increase in Google Certified Educators.

Google is not just used for teaching and learning. It is the way we communicate and collaborate all over the school between offices, departments, and divisions. This year all nonteaching staff embarked on an online course to increase their use of Google tools to support these 21st-century skills. MORE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

In this authentic writing assessment project, 9th graders interviewed and wrote a short story about a 2nd grader. They utilized all of the elements of a short story, illustrated and digitized their book, then created a screencast reading the story to the 2nd-grade partner. So how did we make this work in Covid times when we have not mixed Middle and Upper School students with the Lower School students? Technology to the rescue! This year, our 9th graders used Google Meet, a video communication application, to interview their 2nd-grade students. And since everything was in Google Drive, it took just a click of a button to share all of their work with the 2nd graders. Giving feedback is a cornerstone of learning, so our 2nd graders used a digital tool called Flipgrid, to record a video to give their author feedback on their story.

Besides offering our 9th graders an authentic audience for their work, and the ability to utilize technology tools and practice their writing skills, at the heart of this project was the collaboration and connection made between grades. This is the 8th year we have offered this project and while the way we connected changed a bit, our students enjoyed collaborating together to develop a story students will keep for years to come.

Goosechase in the New Building

What’s more fun than a scavenger hunt? Well, a digital one, of course! With the completion of our new Middle School building, our students and staff were eager to get into the new space and check it out. The new building committee decided to use Goosechase, a digital scavenger hunt application, to help students navigate the new space in small teams. Some of the missions included “Sit on the big, open wooden steps in the central common area. What ideas do you have of how to use this spot? How might we use the big screen?”, “Where would you go if you arrived late to school?”, and “Take a team selfie in front of your English classroom.” Students loved the adventure and the ability to explore in teams.

TEACHERS Lori L.